Benevento Coach Roberto De Zerbi was unhappy with the referee, as there were “incidents that could’ve changed the game” against Inter.

Le Streghe had several reasons to be irritated with Pairetto, most notably the Roberto Gagliardini studs-up tackle on Sandro that was not even punished with a yellow card and the strong penalty shout from Danilo Cataldi when it was still goalless.

“It’s disappointing, because these incidents could’ve changed the game,” De Zerbi told Mediaset Premium after the 2-0 loss.

“It was more irritating to see the referee, not just today, treating the two teams differently. We don’t cry and moan, but we are professionals and merely ask to be treated the same way as everyone else.

“When we go to stadiums like this, we are not treated the same way as other teams. With incidents, they can go one way or the other and are part of the game. The general attitude is another matter.

“I said VAR is one of the things Italian football ought to be proud of. We don’t man-mark specifically to avoid conceding penalties when viewed under a microscope, so it’s sad to see incidents that are missed.”

Benevento conceded two goals in three minutes, both headers from set plays by Milan Skriniar and Andrea Ranocchia.

“We perhaps did deserve to win, but it’s not just an issue for us. I don’t remember all these goals from set plays when I was young. Evidently I have to do more in training, but in Serie A we do see a lot of goals scored from dead ball situations nowadays.

“Unfortunately, we revamped the team in January and being bottom of the table does have an influence. Being able to take Inter on openly and play this well at San Siro is already a good sign for the future, now hopefully points can follow too.”

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